


Failsafe

by LowTide1322



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Barry & Thor friendship, Barry & Tony friendship, Barry Allen is SUPER NICE, Barry reminds them all of Peter, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Infinity Stones, Infinity war has me shook, Loki deserved better, The Flash - Freeform, The Flash meets the Avengers, arrowverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-04-29 12:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14472396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LowTide1322/pseuds/LowTide1322
Summary: (Avengers: Infinity War SPOILERS) Thanos had won the battle, but the Infinity War was never over... (Series of Oneshots)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. Don't read if you haven't seen the movie yet.
> 
> This is just a little something I needed to help myself survive after seeing Infinity War. These are short oneshots, and I might update every once and awhile. Please enjoy and comment what you think!
> 
> (Disclaimer)

“Barry!”

Barry Allen stumbled backwards after receiving a sonic blast from DeVoe, aka the Thinker. As he collapsed to the ground, he barely heard Vibe shout his name before he fell through another pocket dimension. It was different this time, though; the portal was emitting six colors of light that flashed so brightly he almost thought he could have been in the Speed Force.

He was brought back to reality when his back collided with the forest floor beneath him. _Wait, forest floor?_ he thought to himself. He sat up with a groan, clutching his chest where the sonic blast had hit him.

Well, shit.

Yet again, the Flash was in another unfamiliar universe. Barry squinted, taking in his surroundings. The forest that surrounded him gave off a golden light, and many of the leaves tumbled off of the branches that held them. If he wasn’t lost on another earth, he might have enjoyed the sight before him.

He removed his hood; better that if he ran into people, they’d see his face. Barry continued to walk straight ahead, hoping that maybe he would run into somebody who could help him figure out where exactly he was. Strange enough, the more steps he took, the more electric he could feel the air become. It wasn’t like the Speed Force that coursed through his veins, but more erratic, pulsing almost as fast as his own heart.

Quite literally in a flash of lightning, Barry was dangling above the ground, grabbed by the throat and lifted by a man with a red cape and two different colored eyes. What was this guy? Kryptonian? He had the super strength and red cape, maybe he was one of Kara’s distant cousin’s doppelgänger?

Struggling to breathe, Barry choked out, “Who… ‘re you?”

“Where is Thanos?” the man demanded. His voice shook, like he was on the brink of screaming. Okay, so this guy was definitely pissed off at whoever this “Thanos” was.

Barry phased through the man’s grip and dropped to the ground, coughing uncontrollably. He rubbed his neck, but at least the pain slowly began to subside. Good thing he had regenerative healing.

“Look, I have no idea who ‘Thanos’ is, okay? I came here on accident through a portal, I’m from another dimension, another earth. My name is Barry Allen, and I’m not here to hurt anyone. So please, no more strangling,” he said quickly. The man seemed to flinch at the word “strangling”, but Barry didn’t press further.

He hesitated, looking Barry up and down and decided whether or not he could be a threat. He lowered his axe and reached down to help the Flash stand.

“I am Thor, son of Odin. I’m sorry, Barry Allen, but you should return to whatever remains of your realm. If the infinity stones’ influence have reached your home…”

“Wait, what—?”

“Thor! We gotta stick together, alright?” came a voice from behind “Thor”. Barry tried to see where the voice was coming from, but couldn’t see anyone it belonged to.

His eyes wandered to the ground beside Thor, and there was a talking raccoon. Okay, now he’d seen everything.

The raccoon spoke again, calling to someone behind it. “He’s over here. And, uh, there’s some lightning bolt kid here, too.”

“I’m the Flash, and I’m the fastest man alive!” Barry corrected, “And I’m _not_ a kid.”

The raccoon gave him an incredulous look as another bearded man with a star on his chest jogged up to them along with a blonde-haired woman, a bald woman with a spear, and a man with ragged clothing.

“Where did you come from, kid?” The man with the star on his suit stepped forward, completely ignoring Barry’s previous statement.

“I fell through a portal in a fight against a man with the most evil mind. It was...different than the other times this has happened. There were these colors, only six—”

“What do you mean ‘other times’?” The blonde woman asked.

“I run so fast that I can vibrate at different frequencies and open breaches to other universes and through time. I didn’t cause this portal, though. These infinity stones you mentioned...how many are there?” Barry asked. There had to be some sort of correlation between the portal opening in Central City to take Barry here of all places. Events like this didn’t seem to happen on accident anymore.

“Six,” Thor responded. “You say you have the ability to travel through time? You could even go _back_ in time?” he questioned urgently, rushing forward and clapping a hand on Barry’s shoulder.

“No. Well, technically yes, but I’m not allowed to,” he replied. Barry certainly had had enough of time travel. He didn’t need another Savitar incident, and he knew it wouldn’t matter what earth he was on for him to cause an aberration.

“You must.”

“I told you I _can’t_. Messing with the timeline creates aberrations that could end up making things worse. I have a lot of experience in that department, trust me.”

“Thanos killed half of the universe. I don’t think things could get any worse,” the blonde spoke again.

For a moment, Barry’s vision swam. What had he gotten himself into? “Even if I did go back to help you, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know _any_ of you, and I’m not too eager to go head-to-head with a mass murderer. I have my own that I still have to deal with.” Barry sighed. DeVoe was still at large and could have already taken over STAR Labs as soon as the Flash fell through the breach. Iris could be in danger…

 _Iris_. His thoughts turned towards his wife. She wouldn’t hesitate to help these people, even if she had to put her own life on the line to do it. She’d want Barry to be the hero, to be selfless, just as he’d always been.

“But...you said there are six infinity stones? Are they blue, purple, red, orange, yellow and green?” The group before him nodded. “Then I think—I think I’m supposed to be here.”

“Maybe there was some kind of fail-safe within the stones,” the man with the torn clothes spoke. “I’m Bruce, by the way.” Barry gave him a nod of acknowledgement, and Bruce continued, “I think you might be the key to undoing this whole mess. Everyone who was killed by the stones could be brought back…”

“And my people,” Thor added.

Bruce turned to him, “I don’t think it’s that simple—”

“Thanos was never meant to have the space stone, so if he never got it then he’d never have attacked our ship!”

“That’s all dependent on Loki! If he never took the Tesseract in the first place—”

“Do _not_ speak of my brother as if he were a traitor.” Thor’s face was now mere inches from Bruce’s. The air crackled with electricity once again, and the hairs on the back of Barry’s neck stood upright.

He recognized the look on Thor’s face. He’d seen it on his own when he visited his future self in 2024: pure anguish. Even though he’d almost choked Barry to death a few minutes earlier, he felt a sort of camaraderie with Thor. Maybe it was the lightning, or maybe it was that from just looking at him, he could tell he’d known suffering just as the Flash had.

“Loki…? I thought he was Asgard’s prisoner?” the man with the star on his uniform spoke up again.

“No,” Thor replied, stepping away from Bruce. “Loki died trying to defeat Thanos. He died as—as my brother, a son of Odin. He saved me,” his voice broke slightly, but he cleared his throat. “It is time I save him.”

Barry didn’t know that these people were what was left of the Avengers, and didn’t understand the history behind what had happened in New York six years ago. If he did, the confusion on all of their faces would have made sense. They always had thought of Loki as the villain, no goals except global domination. But now, they realized he was much more complex than that. Bruce had told them that Thanos was the one who’d sent Loki six years ago, and part of the Asgardian’s intense motivation could have been for his own life. He was just like any of the rest of them, and it took them up until now to realize this.

“I’m so sorry, Thor,” the blonde mumbled. Not that anyone else could notice, but her eyes had begun to water ever so slightly. She didn’t want to accept how broken they all were, but it was starting to become more and more evident.

Thor plastered a smile on his face to help hide the agony that pulsated through him and threatened to spread to his face. “It matters not. It was all in vain, now.”

“I’ll go back,” Barry said suddenly. Everyone in the group’s heads snapped towards him. “I’ll stop this before it even begins.” He turned towards Thor and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’ll save your brother too. If I were given the chance to right my wrongs and save the ones I love, I would do it in a heartbeat. You all need help, and it would be selfish of me not to give it.”

Thor’s smile slowly became more genuine. “Thank you, friend.”

The group introduced themselves, and Barry learned that the man with the star-suit was Steve, the blonde was Natasha, the raccoon was Rocket, and the woman with the spear was Okoye.

“Well, kid, where do we start?” Steve asked.

Barry rolled his eyes. “I told you, don’t call me ‘kid’. I’m an adult who has saved the entire multiverse before, mind you. I also have a wife, and I don’t think she’d appreciate you calling me that.”

“Too late, he’s gonna call you that from now on,” Rocket said. “Guy’s 90 years old, so everyone seems like a baby to him.”

“He’s right,” Natasha added with a smirk.

Barry laughed, and the small group started to smile. All the horrors they’d just witnessed would be wiped away, and Thanos would lose. They might have just lost the battle, but they sure as hell were going to win this war.

Of course, a little interdimensional help from the Flash, with a dash of fate, brought them all together in the first place to fix the terrible results of the Infinity War.

Shit was about to get crazy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets Barry...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a small continuation of this story... I might skip around to different events from Infinity War as Barry goes back in time, so chronologically these chapters will begin to seem out of order (after this chapter). Thanks for reading and review to let me know what you thought! (Also, Please excuse any typos. My auto correct on my computer sucks, so sometimes sentences might have a wrong word.)
> 
> (Disclaimer)

Tony thought that the idea “out of sight, out of mind” was really working for him. Peter had died in his arms not one day earlier, and he couldn’t breathe whenever he was reminded of that fact.

_ Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good. _

Those words would haunt him for the rest of his life. After New York 6 years ago, Tony had been plagued with nightmares and panic attacks, but this...this was entirely different. He didn’t know why Peter meant this much to him; he’d only met him because he was of use to him.

_ If you think about it, it’s kinda your fault I’m here. _

_ And if you died, I’d feel like that’s on me. _

Another wave of nausea crept up on Tony, but he forced it back down. No, he’d fix this. Peter wasn’t dead, Thanos hadn’t won. It wasn’t real.

However, it was hard to believe that with the annoying blue humanoid yelling at him for flying the ship, which he’d learned was called the “Milano”, wrong. He was exiting a spaceship...alone(ish) ...without Peter.

“Dammit, Stark, I told you we were going to crash right into that force field! I said  _ left _ !”

Usually, he’d come up with some quippy remark but he was still too numb. He only mustered a quiet “sorry”. He couldn’t think about Peter anymore; there wasn’t any time to mourn. Half of the universe was gone, so it wouldn’t be long until chaos would ensue. “Out of sight, out of mind”  _ had _ to work.

“Nebula? The hell are you doing here?”

The blue humanoid snapped her head to the forest floor next to her, seeing the only remaining Guardian of the Galaxy left. She felt a pang of remorse—if it was possible—for the little creature, but now wasn’t the time for grief. They had a job to do; she had a sister to avenge.

“Stark here says he’s with you. He knew Quill.”

Rocket caught on quickly to her use of past tense. The rest of the Guardians were dead, just like Groot. He drew a shaky breath before addressing the human.

“You’re Stark? As in—”

“Tony?” Steve had materialized out of the brush, appearing with Thor, Bruce and Natasha, and…

Holy shit.

Walking with his former teammates was a tall, lanky young man with brown hair that had a sort of windswept look. He wore a white emblem with a gold lightning bolt and a red suit. Tony had to blink a couple of times because for a moment the suit, the way the kid carried himself... he almost looked like he was Peter.

As soon as he thought of him, all of those feelings he’d tried so hard to suppress came rushing forward, like bile. Okay, well maybe it  _ was _ bile. Tony vomited right there in the middle of the forest, almost on Cap’s shoes. He wanted to smirk and say  _ serves him right _ , but he didn’t have the heart. He wasn’t sure that he ever would again.

“Tony! You okay? Do you know Barry?” Steve asked, gently rubbing Tony’s back so as to comfort him. It didn’t work.

“I-I’ve never seen him before…” the man said awkwardly. The way he stuttered was reminiscent of how Peter would sound when he knew he’d done something wrong...like when he got on the spaceship...and died—

Tony dry heaved this time, since his stomach had nothing left to expel. God, he must have been embarrassing himself. Yesterday, he would have cared. Not today.

“No, he just-you just remind me of someone… I’m sorry Steve, I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t apologize. I’m just glad you’re alive. But Strange and Peter? The rest of the Guardians...?” Steve didn’t finish his sentence. So much death had been going around, he was tired of asking who made it and who didn’t.

Tony shook his head. “They’re all gone,” he said simply.

“Do not despair, Tony. Barry is here to turn back time, to fix everything,” Thor said happily, gesturing to Barry with a really large weapon. Tony barely recognized him with his shaved head and two different colored eyes. How much had changed for the Asgardian?

Barry took a step forward, but then decided it best to stand next to Thor, creating an awkward flash of movement. “Hi, um, I should introduce myself, but Thor already did, kind of…” he cleared his throat, “My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. A superhero, where I’m from, I guess. Long story short, I fell through a portal made by these so-called ‘infinity stones’ you guys are having trouble with and found myself here. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to help you guys somehow, so yeah.”

Tony found it in himself to grab Steve for support and hoist himself up from the ground, even though nausea threatened to overcome him again. If there was a way to avenge the world, let alone save it, he’d do whatever it took. The Allen kid’s likeness to Peter killed him on the inside, but maybe if he didn’t pay it much mind, it wouldn’t affect him as much. At least, that’s what Tony hoped.

“Tony Stark. I’m sorry for spilling my guts out. I was just on another planet for the first time and had to fly a spaceship…I guess you could say it gave me some motion sickness,” the billionaire quipped. It took everything in him to throw that smirk on his face, but he grew tired and it slipped into a grimace. “I just lost this kid, not my kid, but… close enough to one. He-you remind me of him. Like, a lot.”

“Oh.” Barry replied. He’d never gotten to the whole “kids” thing yet, and wasn’t planning on it for at least a while. He’d seen firsthand how devastated his best friend Oliver had been when his own son had been captured by a villain. But back home on his earth, none of them had lost a child, theirs or not.

Earlier, Barry had insisted that he wasn’t a kid. Compared to all these people though (one of whom was apparently 1500 years old) he might as well be one. He never liked to think of himself as young because it always made him feel helpless, just like when Reverse Flash had murdered his mother all those years ago. He’d grown up faster than the average kid; it was the only way to get past all the horrors he had to see as an eleven year-old. Barry always made a point to look after everyone else, but he never wanted anyone to look after him.

Maybe that was something that had to change.

“Let’s get back to the city. We can make a game plan from there,” Natasha spoke up. She could sense the awkward tension building within the group, so she knew it was probably best to keep everyone busy to avoid the heavy weights on their shoulders from the day. Plus, Tony looked absolutely terrible and most likely needed lots of medical attention.

“I can take you, Mr., um, Stark. You should probably see a doctor, you look pretty banged up,” Barry offered, finally moving towards Tony and extending a hand. He wanted to fix everything immediately; this world he’d just fallen into seemed too awful to be true. Maybe DeVoe had planned this from the beginning, or maybe it was an anomaly the Thinker hadn’t accounted for. Whatever the case, Barry was going to save them and protect them at any costs. Even if it wasn’t his earth, the Flash still had a duty.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he grabbed Barry’s hand. Before he knew it, he was in one of Wakanda’s healing and medical chambers. Everyone around him was frantic or hysterical, but not Barry. The kid’s hazel eyes were steady and held a hint of worry as they held their gaze with Tony’s. God, he could have sworn it was Peter standing beside him. Oddly enough, the thought of the spider-kid watching over Tony brought him the first comfort since this whole mess started.

“Do you-do you mind staying here for a bit? I know I barely know you, but you just look like—”

“The kid. What was his name again?”

“Peter Parker.” Maybe it was best for Tony to remember that the kid, his kid, in a way, was with him through all of this. Barry was a complete stranger, but at the same time, he was the one thing anchoring Tony to the present moment. “Out of sight, out of mind” wasn’t what he needed, but a reminder of all that he lost, and how he was damn sure he was gonna get it all back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry interrupts the first 5 minutes of Infinity War...Thank goodness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, these chapters read like oneshots, so it might seem like some parts are missing, but that's because they're only snap shots of the whole story (if that makes sense).

Thor screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched Heimdall die in front of him, helpless to stop it from happening.

“You’re going to die for that!” the god of thunder threatened. The misshapen figure that kept him from moving waved a hand and covered his mouth with yet another piece of metal. 

Thanos crushed the tesseract to reveal a glowing blue stone: the space stone. He added it to his gauntlet, and what remained of the spaceship glowed blue.

Thor struggled in his metal prison as Loki proclaimed fake loyalty to the mad titan. When the knife appeared in his hand, Thor knew then that his brother was going to die. His eyes widened with horror, and struggled even more to break free of the bonds that held him. Not Loki, not his brother, not again… He couldn’t handle mourning his family yet again, especially when he’d been so  _ close _ to being happy and having his brother at his side.

The god of thunder sensed a crackle of electricity in the air, and for once, it wasn’t from him. Golden lightning and a high pitched crack of thunder sounded throughout the space ship. The lightning traveled through the air faster than the eye could comprehend, and in an instant Thanos’s children were on the ground, knocked unconscious.

Loki flailed in Thanos’s grip and he could feel the life slowly, painfully drain out of him. Finally, the titan’s grip released and as did Thor’s metal prison. The elder brother crawled towards the younger with whatever strength he had left, and saw that the bruising on his brother’s neck ever so slowly had begun to subside. Loki gasped and took in as much air as he could now that his windpipe wasn’t being crushed. He tried to grab a hold of Thor to verify that he was actually there, that he was alive and had evaded death once again.

He really hadn’t been expecting to survive this time, and based on how tight Thor was hugging him, it seemed that his brother hadn’t expected him to either. In any other scenario (when Loki wasn’t weak and on the brink of death), he would have shoved Thor off of him and tell him to stop being so soft. But to his great surprise, he found that the only thing that could comfort him right then was his older brother.

“Thor,” Loki coughed, his voice barely audible, “what-what in Odin’s name was  _ that _ ?”

Thor only shook his head. He knew whatever had distracted Thanos must have been extremely powerful. Its energy signature far surpassed anything that currently was alive on the spaceship.

“Yo, Thanos!” came a young man’s voice from behind Thor and Loki. Thor turned his head around to see a mere Midgardian man, dressed in a red uniform. He was the source of energy that he was sensing, but how could that be? How could a man from Midgard hold so much power?

“It’s unwise, human, to stand against me,” Thanos said, his voice dangerously low.

“You have failed this universe, asshole.”

In a flash of lightning, too fast for Thanos to comprehend fully, the scarlet speedster ran at the titan and vibrated at the same frequency as the space stone. He removed the stone from the gauntlet, just in time before the power stone obliterated the spaceship, leaving Thor and Loki and Thanos alike floating through outer space.

…

Barry smirked as he ran through a breach, moving on to the next location that the Avengers had told him to meet Thor and (now alive) Loki; the Guardians’ ship.

Stealing Oliver’s line was something the Flash had been aiming to do for a long time, and it turned out to be really satisfying. The mad titan certainly seemed as terrible as everyone had described him, and reminded Barry too much of DeVoe to pass up the opportunity to foil his plan. Not to mention that Loki was about to die and Thor was being held hostage basically, but that was only a part of it.

The space stone was starting to burn through his suit in his hand, and he grimaced. That little bit of distraction caused him to exit the breach late, looking upon a motley crew of aliens and two Asgardians. He pulled his cowl back from his face to look less threatening. Damn, he was supposed to make it there before Loki and Thor.

“Woah, what the hell?!” said one of the aliens, who actually looked like a human. Okay, so there were five aliens, a  _ human _ , and two Asgardians.

“You again,” Thor said, stepping forward. “Who are you? How do you possess such power?”

“Hi, I’m Barry Allen, and do you have a container for this?” he held up the space stone, vibrating his hand so that it wouldn’t burn through his flesh. He couldn’t hold it forever, and he could already feel himself tiring.

“An infinity stone,” muttered a green-skinned woman towards the back of the group.

“Yeah, I plucked it from Thanos...but I can’t really hold onto it much longer so, please?” Barry asked.

After everyone overcame their initial shock of seeing a random human with an infinity stone appear on their ship, the Guardians of the Galaxy rushed around to find anything that could contain the stone.

“Here!” said one, who Barry recognized as Rocket. He handed him a container that looked like what he used to put his sandwich in for lunchtime at school.

“Tupperware? Really?”

“This ain’t any regular plastic, Red. Just drop it!”

Barry did as the raccoon asked and placed the space stone down in the box gently. Surprisingly, the stone didn’t react at all and sat quietly, as if it weren’t one of the most ancient objects in the universe.

“Okay, thank God that’s over…”

“You’re from Earth?” said the human.

“Yeah, but not yours… I’m from a parallel universe, oh, and the future,” Barry began, although he wasn’t sure that he could explain everything well enough in the time that he had.

“You never answered my question: who are you and how could you wield the space stone?” Thor asked again, stepping even closer to Barry.

“And why would you help us?” came Loki’s scratchy voice from behind Thor. Barry remembered after his fight with Zoom his throat had almost been crushed, and it wasn’t a pleasant thing to recover from. He winced at the memory as he glanced at the bruising on Loki’s neck.

“I was sent here because of some failsafe in the infinity stones because in the future Thanos kills half the universe and—” Barry babbled, not paying attention to the horrified expressions of the crew.

“The snap? He-he did it…” said the green-skinned woman, who Barry was beginning to think was the “Gamora” Rocket told him about.

“Yeah. How do you know so much about Thanos?” Barry asked, just to confirm that it was in fact Thanos’s daughter.

The woman looked at her shoes, avoiding the eyes of the strangers in the room. Loki took this as an opportunity to speak up.

“Oh, she knows her father all too well. Isn't that right,  _ Gamora _ ?” the god of mischief sneered. As much as he wanted to, he could never forget all that time spent under Thanos’s thumb. Looking at the titan(who'd just nearly killed him)’s daughter was just another reminder of what he'd lost, and where it all went wrong.

“Woah dude, chill out alright? She hates him as much as you do, if not more,” the human replied, coming immediately to Gamora’s defense.

“They are not dudes,” chimed in the shirtless alien with tattoos, “you are a dude. They...they are men.”

“Excuse me?”

“Face it, Quill, you're one sandwich away from fat,” said Rocket. 

“How does that have anything to do with this!?” Quill exclaimed.

“Loki, perhaps it's best not to glare at those who saved us from the unforgiving vacuum of space…” Thor said in an attempt to calm his brother.

“I'm sorry, but that's kind of hard to do when one of them played a part in  _ torturing _ me!” Loki yelled, but the effort caused him to cough uncontrollably. He rubbed his neck, which was still bruised, but it only made him grimace more. Thor instantly was at his brother’s side, trying to help him breathe.

Thor never gave much thought to what happened to Loki between the time he fell from the bifrost to New York. He'd only ever assumed his brother had aligned himself with a higher power that sought to corrupt all the planets in the galaxy. He was half right, in the sense that Thanos had been pulling the strings from behind the scenes. However, he never accounted for  _ why _ exactly Loki had fallen in line with the titan.

“Is this true?” Thor said, his voice shaking with anger. He didn't even bother to turn and look at Gamora; if he did, he might not be able to restrain himself from starting a fight.

“...Yes,” came the hesitant reply.

There was a beat of silence on the ship. As time went on, Barry had become  _ really _ uncomfortable. Obviously, there was some deep-rooted conflict here and he wasn’t sure which side he was supposed to take. There probably shouldn’t have been sides to begin with; they were going to need every single person to defeat Thanos.

“Look, I get that things are  _ really _ tense here but… we need to keep it together. Thanos is coming for the other stones, and we have to get to them before he can. I’ve seen the future, and things are pretty bleak. Don’t let that become your reality,” Barry said, standing before the group.

“He’s right,” Loki said after a brief pause. “Our...personal issues aside, we need to work together. Thanos can’t get the stones.”

“I agree.” Gamora nodded in Loki’s direction. “And I’m truly sorry, Loki, for anything I helped Thanos do to you...what I did to you.”

“Well, we’ve all made mistakes,” the god of mischief said as a curt response.

“This is nice, but how do we even know where to find the stones?” Quill piped up.

“I am Groot!”

“Uh, I think it’s a bit past introductions…” said Barry.

“No, that’s not what he said—” Loki began.

“You speak Groot?” Rocket asked, very surprised that two of the three strangers could communicate with his friend.

“Yes, it was an elective in school on Asgard,” Thor explained.

“Okay before we get off topic here—!” Quill spoke again.

“You’re right, you’re right. Okay, so here’s what needs to happen…” Barry explained to the group that Thor and Loki had to go to Nidavellir to acquire a powerful weapon to use against Thanos. Rocket had decided that he wanted to go with, seeing as it was a place full of advanced weaponry the raccoon had only dreamed about.

“Fine, but Gamora has to go with you.” Barry remembered from Nebula had said, Thanos used the reality stone to capture Gamora, and then took her to Vormir where he murdered her to acquire the soul stone. The thought of Thanos killing his own daughter still gave Barry the chills. “The rest of you should go to Knowhere to see if the reality stone is still there. I’m pretty sure Thanos blew him and his ‘children’ out into space using the power stone, but he must have a lot of resources and could have survived and already be on his way there. I’m sure his children are on their way to Earth to get the time and mind stones… I guess that’s where I need to go next.”

“Wait, so now you’re just gonna leave? What if we need you, man!?” Quill said.

“Yes, you’ve proven a mighty ally in the fight against Thanos. The power you possess… it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Thor said as he approached Barry and rested a hand on his shoulder. Barry almost laughed at the severe déja-vu he was getting.

“When the battle comes to a head, I’ll be there,” Barry said as he put his cowl back over his face. He grabbed the container holding the space stone, and gave a small salute to the Guardians and Asgardians. “I’ll see you guys in a Flash.”

With that, the superhero vanished in a blue portal. Thor laughed and turned to his brother.

“I like him.”

Loki only rolled his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry gets an unwanted rematch with Maw and Obsidian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is turning kind of into a story instead of one shots but... just think of this chapter as part one of a two-shot. I absolutely love writing dialogue between these characters, so this chapter may seem dialogue-heavy. Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments!

“Call him!” Bruce urged Tony.

Tony wasn’t sure why he kept the flip phone in his pocket. Maybe it was security in moments like now, when he knew he couldn’t face a threat alone and desperately needed help.  _ Only _ if he was desperate would he call Rogers. Right now, he was feeling a hell of a lot more desperate than he would like to admit.

Before he clicked Steve’s name on the phone, a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder sounded throughout the sanctum, and Strange and Wong stood ready to attack.

The young man who materialized before them put his hands above his head as if to say “don’t shoot!”. In one of his hands he held a container with a glowing blue stone. Strange narrowed his eyes at this; the time stone had almost a magnetic pull to the stone the young man held. After everything Bruce just told them….had they really gotten so lucky as to run into  _ another _ infinity stone?

“Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better,” Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

“Trust me,” Barry said as he pulled down his cowl from his face, “today could have gone much worse.” 

Tony opened his mouth to make a quip, but decided against it. There was something oddly familiar about this guy… “Do I know you?”

Barry sighed. “You might wish you hadn’t asked that question.”

The Flash went on to explain where he was from and how he’d met what was left of the Avengers in the future. It was strange to see Tony so lively, because when Barry had last seen him he was so broken from the loss of his friends, the loss of Peter. 

Then Barry told them about the Asgardians and Bruce sighed in relief. He’d thought Thor and Loki were dead and was glad to be proven wrong (he was surprised that he was relieved to hear the younger Odinson was alive as well). With the Asgardians on their side, Thanos and his goons would be so screwed.

“Woah. Is it weird I'm getting deja-vu right now?” Tony quipped as he brought a hand to his head. Something was way too familiar about this situation, like he’d seen it in a dream… or a dream of a dream.

Barry shrugged. “Time travel and all that. You'll get used to it.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Strange cut in, obviously the most skeptical of the group. “It’s not like your word means anything to us.”

Tony almost wanted to do a facepalm. Really, this “Dr. Strange” guy wasn’t the best at making friends. Who knew, maybe this lightning kid could be the key to defeating Thanos, and Strange’s sunny and welcoming demeanor could scare him off.

“No. I guess you don’t really have a reason to trust me yet. I can prove to you what I’m saying is true, though. Look through my memories, and you’ll see. You're the master of mystic arts, right? Do some mystical… stuff,” Barry said as he tucked the space stone under his arm. He took a couple steps towards the doctor. “But, uh, try not to erase them, okay? I've done that before and it's not fun. Plus, without me you guys are pretty much screwed.”

Strange glanced at Wong, and he gave the doctor a small nod. Strange reached a hand forward and touched the speedster’s forehead. He was  _ really _ unprepared for what he saw… 

Stephen practically lived through every one of Barry Allen’s life experiences in the span of eleven seconds. He saw the man in yellow, he felt the betrayal when everyone thought Henry Allen a murderer. He felt love for Iris, camaraderie with Oliver, the lightning changing him in more ways than one, and the admiration and then hatred for Dr. Wells. The guilt over the singularity, fear of Zoom, the agony of losing his father, the bliss of Flashpoint quickly turning into regret, and an unsettling calm in his decision to turn himself over to the Dominators. Just based off of this, Stephen could tell that Barry Allen posed no threat, but even still he delved further. There had to be some reason as to why the young man had an infinity stone, and after seeing the horror that was Savitar and then the whole DeVoe issue Strange found what he was looking for.

There were six bursts of colored light and then the Flash had found himself in the midst of only some of the Avengers. So, it  _ was _ true about the destructive power of the infinity stones. Half of humanity—half of the  _ universe _ —was gone. Strange’s vision swam along with Barry’s, especially upon seeing the broken version of Tony Stark.

There had been a haunted look in the man’s eyes and tears threatened to tumble down his face. Needless to say, the Iron Man looked about ready to curl up into a ball and stay like that forever.

Stephen was never the empathetic type—he couldn’t be when he had to pull the plug on a patient or announce time of death when he failed a grueling surgery. But seeing the Tony he’d met just a few minutes ago compared to the one in Barry’s memories, he couldn’t help but feel sorrow and then a sudden urge to prevent whatever left Stark shattered like that.

With a gasp, Strange pulled his hand back from Barry’s forehead and the two men were sent staggering back.

Barry wasn’t sure exactly what this interaction with the doctor would entail, and he certainly wasn’t ready to relive every single one of his traumatic experiences. He steadied himself; he wasn't one to be vulnerable in front of others (except his family), and even though he'd gotten to know Tony and Bruce earlier he didn't feel as comfortable around the past versions of them.

“I thought you were only going to look at the past couple of days! Not my entire life!”

“Sorry,” Strange shrugged, standing taller. “Had to see if you were trustworthy.” He didn’t need anyone questioning his magic ability, because, you know, street-cred. 

“Well, I am! You happy now?” Barry rubbed his temples. Now wasn't the time to get angry; Maw and Obsidian would be arriving soon, which meant Earth needed to be prepared as much as possible for the upcoming battle.

God, saving the world really took a lot out of him.

“We need to get ready. Strange, you saw the plan right? And you saw what happens if we fail, so we can't let them get the time stone,” he informed the group.

“Ready? Get ready for what?” Bruce spoke up. He vaguely remembered the attack on the Statesman, and those memories alone were horrific. Dread flooded him as he heard a distant buzzing and a breeze burst into the sanctum.

“For that.”

Barry, Tony, Stephen, Wong and Bruce rushed outside of the sanctum. Wind ripped road signs clean out of the ground and confused drivers swerved every which way, causing a major backup. The stupid flying donut was sure to show up anytime now, and Barry was ready to beat the crap out of Thanos’s so-called children. It was creepy enough that the mad titan would “adopt” his own children, but to raise them to love killing people? That was just plain awful; it was almost worse than all the people of Earth-X.

Walking through the rubble of what was once one of New York’s busy streets, the five of them came face-to-face with Maw and Obsidian.

“Rejoice! For you are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos—” began Maw’s grating voice, but Tony simply wasn’t having  _ any _ of this. How many times could the world be threatened to be destroyed? He seriously lost count.

“I’m sorry, Earth is closed today! You’re gonna have to pack it up and get out of here,” he cut off the misshapen figure. Why,  _ why _ did the evil aliens always pick to stash their powerful items on Earth?

Maw only showed the slightest bit of irritation. “Stonekeepers, does this chattering animal speak for you?” he addressed Strange and Barry. The speedster forgot that he still held the space stone in his hand. He cursed himself for not thinking of putting it down in the sanctum. He was the fastest man alive and had pretty much all the time in the world but couldn’t keep focus long enough to get rid of the space stone? Some failsafe he was. He discreetly handed the container to Wong, who tossed it in a portal. Stephen spoke up to hide this small action from Maw, but wasn’t that successful.

“Certainly not,” the sorcerer replied. “And you’re trespassing on this planet.”

“He means get lost, Squidward!” Tony added.

“I beat your asses already once before, you really wanna go for round two?” Barry stepped up. He was going to take a lot of pleasure in beating these two up again. No matter which earth he was on, the Flash would have no trouble taking down villains who threatened to harm the universe. This would be easy.

Maw only smiled, making all their stomachs churn. “Oh no, child, things shall play out differently this time.”

Barry frowned.

…

With a grunt, Stark slammed to the ground from the force of Obsidian’s punch. Barry landed right next to him.

“I thought you said these guys were floating around in space!”

“They  _ were _ ! I have no idea how they survived! Thanos has the power stone, who knows what he’s capable of!” Barry shouted back.

The two of them shielded their faces, expecting a devastating blow from the big monster above them, but nothing ever came. They looked up to see Spiderman holding off Obsidian’s fist.

“Hey Mr. Stark!”

“Kid!” Tony exclaimed. “Where’d you come from?”

“Fieldtrip! Remember, I—” the young hero didn’t get to finish his sentence since he was thrown off of Obsidian’s weapon. He went flying through the air, and Barry was just barely able to speed over and catch him.

“T-thanks, uh, Mr…”

“I’m Barry Allen. You must be Peter Parker. Finally! Someone who won’t call me ‘kid’!”

If it was possible, Peter’s confused glance was showing through his mask. Barry awkwardly patted the teen on the shoulder and got back into the fight.

Strange and Maw were fighting hand to hand it seemed, and eventually Wong was able to get Obsidian out of the picture. Peter and Barry rushed to keep Strange safe, but only found the “wizard” knocked unconscious. Right as Barry tapped into the speedforce, he felt a stab of agonizing pain in his left leg, and then another in his right shoulder. He screamed, looking down to see shards of metal impaling his leg and arm. Great, just what he needed.

“I told you, boy, this encounter would end much differently,” came Maw’s voice from above him.

The Flash’s vision started to go dark and he could vaguely make out Peter’s shouts next to him.

“Mr. Stark, we’re being beamed up!”

Barry’s last conscious thought was how Cisco would have appreciated the Star Trek reference.


End file.
